Ok, I'm a black belt in knee injuries.. no.. purple belt!
(Not that grave injuries, but the one I had almost made me invalid)
So here's what I believe to be some valuable advice. it starts with a short story.
Back when I did Taekwon do, we had all sorts of stretches, some identical to 10'th stretches. Butterfly stretch, lotus and the sort.
I repeadetly pivoted wrong when kicking, (leg too straight, no tension in the knee, lead to rotational injury), and had no respect for my knees when stretching. Doing this for three years made my knee loose. (left knee)
I started karate, and during a nightly Kyokushin exercise that was pretty brutal, my knee blew out. It dislocated when walking, when sitting, when watching TV..The shinbone actually went one way, and the knee another. I almost made a guy at a party puke when I showed him, haha.. It was so bad I had to stay in bed for weeks, I couldn't walk on it.
The tendon was not ripped, but permanently elongated. (ACL)
My recovery took years. I did one week of fasting to rid myself of the inflamation. 3 months of ankle weights, very light, just sitting on a stool, doing repetitions.
Started rolling instead of kicking. Started strongman exrcises, and as my knee was 50%, I started light deadlifts. (Which eventually became max lifts)
3 years went by, and my knees were not only repaired, they were bulletproof!
Later I discover 10'th, and I'm thinking.. "No way I'll be able to do this" But I loved the system, so I went for it.
I've had no knee problems at all. I can't get my feet behind my head yet, but I can heelhook myself, do lotus, all of that stuff. I had to work myself up to that, but I knew that proper warmup, and avoiding too much stress on the ligaments might get me there, and I was right. Which brings me to my advice:
Be very very careful with stretching the ligaments and tendons! Angle in rubber guard, as previously stated, hug the knee to eliviate pressure on it when doing rubber guard.
-When stretching, always focus on letting the hip give in, stretching the muscle and tendon in the hip. Wait until the hip relaxes and starts to give in befor going further. That's where 99% of the flexibilty comes from.
As Eddie states, you need flexibility in the knees as well, but if you can do lotus, as far as I'm concerned, that's all the knee flexibility you need. There's a fine line between proper knee flexibility and a bum knee.
If one knows this, and avoids the danger zones, it's no problem. If one forgets it, or didn't know it, it can lead to injury. And those types of injuries take a long time to heal.
Now; I'd definitely would go check if the ACL is ok. And if it's ok, it's probable that the tendon is elongated. Start recovery exercises, but listen to your doc more than me. They are experts.
More advice:
Green tea helps with inflamation. Alcohol, nicotine and coffee makes it worse. (if there's inflamation or water in the knee)
Running stabilizes the knee, paradoxally enough, but only if you run using proper technique, short steps, putting the foot down right under you, absorbing the impact with the ball of the foot. Three steps per second, short strides. The hip extendors and butt provides the power. Run as flat as possible, not much bobbing up and down.
If you do look into running as a means of tightening the knees up, I'd check out instructionals on barefoot running. (You don't have to run barefoot, just learn how to run with the least amount of stress on your legs)
Walking stairs is also good. And when running, uphill running strengthens the knees more than just running on flat ground.
You probably know half of, or all of this, but I just put it out there if you need advice!
Or for those out there that are forcing their flexibility too much. "Never force a stretch" -I think that's what the yoga people say.
Not meant as criticism, or making you seem like a dummy, just my personal expirience from a very troubled time in my life, lol!
I hope you make a speedy recovery! You seem like you are pretty crafty on the mats, so it's a shame to see you out with an injury.
Edit: Running and deadlifts are late in the process.. ! I wouldn't start running now.
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